Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
.The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/descriptiondedicOOwash 



/ 



AC. 



DESCRIPTION AND DEDICATION 



SEATON , 



PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING, 



WASHINGTON, D. C, 



SEPTEMBER 30, 1871 



a^U-vI^ &7L. ^UiHLh^r) l/Uuj&kjU) % 




WASHINGTON, D. C: 

m'GILL & WITHEROW, PRINTERS AND STERE0TTPER3. 
187I. 



fSaf 

-5 



DESCRIPTION AND DEDICATION 



SEA TON PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING. 



DESCRIPTION. 



This building occupies a most commanding position, on the healthy and ele- 
vated ground on I street, between Second and Third streets northwest. The 
ground slopes down at all points of the compass from this site, so happily chosen. 
The lot is 90 feet front by 150 feet depth, and contains 13,500 square feet. The 
building stands in the center of front, is 68 feet front by 94 feet depth, has a 
basement 10 feet in height, two stories of 14 feet, and a third story, part of 
which is occupied by a public hall, of 18 feet in height, all measured in the clear 
between floor and ceiling. It was designed exclusively for male schools. The 
building is approached by doors from the four sides, opening outward, so as to 
facilitate egress in case of alarm. The arched wide front door is set back from 
face of wall in a deep recess, for convenience and relief of the plain exterior 
architecture. 

The basement is appropriated to play-grounds, water-closets, and wash-room, 
and the necessary rooms for janitor. There is also a vault, 60 feet in length and 
16 feet in width, under the sidewalk. This contains boiler-room and coal-cellars. 
The first story, the window-sills of which are elevated 9 feet above ground for 
obvious reasons, contains 4 school-rooms, with adjoining well fitted up cloak- 
rooms and airy passages; the second story has the same accommodations, and 
besides it has a library -room above the entrance; and the third story contains a 
public hall, occupying 3,175 square feet, inclusive of a raised platform of 11 by 
23 feet in size, and is large enough to contain all the pupils of the house when 
assembled. This hall has a coved ceiling, and the finish and proportions of the 
room are planned with due regard to the laws of acoustics and a thorough venti- 
lation. The floor of this hall rises amphitheatrically from the foot of the platform. 

Two school-rooms, with their dependencies, 'are located in the rear of the hall, 
with store-rooms in the loft above them. 

There are in all 10 school-rooms, 4 of which are 27 by 40 feet, and six of which 
are 25J by 34 feet in size. Two flights of wide stairs, having two courses, with 
intermediate landings for each story, lead up from basement to roof, on the east 
and west side of the building. 

The building is heated with low-pressure steam, and is ventilated in connection 
with it by down drafts. There are two boilers, set together, so that they can be 
used separately or together, as may be required. The apparatus is self-acting, 
being supplied with a safety-valve for letting off superfluous steam, and a self- 
regulating diaphragm and bottle, which, when the steam reaches the highest 
point allowed, closes the damper and shuts off all draught, by opening the flue- 



door, until the steam falls below its proper maximum, when it opens again, and 
the damper continues to work as before. 

The building is planned with the view of heating the main stories principally 
with circulated air, supplied from stacks of heated coils in the basement. The 
air-valves"to each stack are placed in the boiler-room, convenient to the person 
in charge, and out of the reach of the pupils. These coils are inclosed in brick- 
work. Each coil is fed by cold-air brick ducts from without. These ducts are 
of sufficient size to provide pure air in sufficient quantities to replace that in the 
whole building once in every twenty minutes. 

Stacks of coils are also placed inside of large sized shafts of brick work, for 
winter ventilation, and gas-heaters for summer ventilation, thereby rarifying the 
air and producing the upward current, which is drawn through the registers of 
the school-rooms and hall to the foul-air flues, thence downward to the ducts 
underneath the basement floor, through these to the above mentioned shafts, and 
passed off with sufficient rapidity to insure the perfect ventilation of the entire 
building. 

The outside walls have biuestone footings, and are built of hard-burned bricks. 
They are furred on the inside, in order to prevent the condensation of water lib- 
erated from the heated winter air by contact with the surface of the cold walls. 
Select red brick, with pressed brick joints, are used for facing the fronts and 
adjoining parts of sides. There are ornamental arches of brick work and recesses 
around the triple and double windows and door of front, enlivened by cast-iron 
keystones and molded lintels on top of arches, and pilasters, with intermediate 
brick cornice. A projection 11 feet in width in center, and for whole height of 
front, surmounted by a belfry, is calculated to relieve the monotony of the 
brick work. 

Underneath the belfry there is the inscription — - 

"Seaton Public School," 

a name given by the Board of School Trustees to designate this school, and 
selected in honor of the memory of the late Mayor W. W. Seaton, a high-minded 
pioneer in the cause of public instruction in our city. 

The principal inside partitions are of brick. The school-rooms, passages, and 
play-grounds are all wainscoted, with a capping formed, for the school-rooms, of 
boxes for chalk and rubbers underneath, strips of black plastering, four feet wide, 
forming blackboards all around the rooms. All the interior finish of the house, 
such as wainscoting, architraves, frames, doors, and sash, consists of a combina- 
tion of best seasoned heart southern yellow pine and oak. It is left with its 
native color, and oiled. 

The floors are oiled and slightly stained. The side walls, cornices, and ceil- 
ings of the rooms are done in distemper, in tints, pleasing to and healthful for 
the eye. 

All the bells are worked by electricity: the battery used therefor serves also 
as the motive power for a regulator, from which wires are run to hands on clock- 
faces in all the school-robms, so that the clocks in all the rooms are uniformly 
set, and moved by the sure agency of electricity. 

The furniture — single desks and chairs for pupils, and teachers' desks, all made 
of cherry, and of the most approved patterns — is from the manufactory of Mr. 
W. G. Shattuck, of Boston. 

The cost of the lot was $12,000; of the building, including heating by steam, 
electrical clocks, book-cases for library-room, architect's commissions for plans and 
supervision, $J 7,506 40; of the furniture, $5,070 46. Total cost, $64,576 86. 

The architect, Mr. Adolf Cluss, has for many years made school architecture 
a special study, and has furnished the plans for all our large and deservedly 
popular school edifices. The contractor, Mr. Robert I. Fleming, performed his 
work in the most satisfactoiy manner in all respects. The Building Committee 
consisted of his honor Mayor Emery, chairman ; Aldermen Connolly, Champion, 
and Moore; Councilmen Burgess and Pope; and School Trustees, Woodward, 
Hart, Champlin, and French. 



DEDICATION. 

On Saturday, September 30, 1871, at 1 o'clock p. rn., in the elegant hall of the 
building, the dedicatory ceremonies commenced with the singing of " When morn 
has first her light revealed," by a choir composed of sixty pupils from the Male 
and the Female Grammar Schools of the Second School District, led by Professor 
Joseph H. Daniel, the veteran music teacher in the Washington Public Schools. 
Rev. Dr. J. G. Butler read appropriate selections from the Bible, and Rev. D. B. 
Jutten invoked the Divine blessing. 

The choir then sung with fine effect the following: 

DEDICATORY HYMN. 

Written for the occasion by Me. John Sullivan Brown. 

Lord, in Thy holy temples shine 
The glories of Thy love divine; 
Thy spirit and Thy grace abound 
Where men Thine altars gather round. 

We consecrate this house to Thee, 
Where knowledge true may ever be, 
In light full shining from above, 
Thus sanctioned by Thy grace and love. 

May every foot these halls shall tread 
Be in the way of Heaven led; 
Mind taught life's purposes aright, 
And heart seek goodness in thy sight. 

Be ever present with thy care, 
Guide journey here, arrival there; 
Keep thought upright, direct desire, 
And soul with holiness inspire. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OF MR. J. ORMOND WILSON, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC 

SCHOOLS. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: Thirty years ago, when in the city of Washington 
the number of children educated in the free schools was 400, and the number of 
children who did not attend any school was 4,000, when the school fund yielded 
annually about $3,000, of which vast sum $1,700 was expended for the support 
of schools, leaving a surplus of $1,300, and the grave question, "What shall we 
do with the surplus?" was debated in the Council chambers by the city fathers, 
worthy Mayor Seaton advised as follows: "1 consider it due to the importance 
of the subject, gentlemen, to ask your attention to. the suggestions which I sub- 
mitted in my communication of the 10th of Jul)- last, on the propriety of extend- 
ing more widely the means of education to the indigent children, of the city, either 
by applying the entire proceeds of the school fund to that object, or, what would 
be better still, introducing the admirable system of common schools adopted in 
the New England States, by which the benefits of education are placed within 
reach of every child in the community." 

To-day there are 10,000 children attending our public schools. The appropri- 
ations for the current year amount to well nigh half a million of dollars, not one 
cent of which will be left as a surplus to provoke debate in the Legislative Assem- 
bly of the District of Columbia, and the benefits of education are proffered alike 
to all classes, without distinction of race, color, sex, or pecuniary condition. 

The Board of Trustees of the Public Schools of Washington, during the three 
decades to which I have alluded, has numbered among its members gentlemen 
possessing the highest moral and social virtues, men of ability and learning, of 



6. 

solid practical wisdom, fully appreciating the paramount importance of the sacred 
trust committed to them, unselfishly giving their time and strength without ex 
pectation of pecuniary reward, unsupported by appreciative public sentiment and 
sympathy, yet moving steadily forward against the most disheartening obstacles; 
and it is fit that they should be remembered on this glad clay. They have founded 
the system of public instruction which we now enjoy and have in charge, and 
which, although not ornamental and showy, although it affords no facilities for 
the pursuit of those branches of learning which can be taught only in the higher 
department of schools, and which are never reached except by the few, still secures 
what is of far greater importance — that thorough and practical knowledge of the 
common English branches, without which no citizen of this country can prop- 
erly discharge his private or public duties. 

To see that the youth are thus educated intellectually, with a proper blending 
of moral and physical culture, is, in my judgment, the special mission of the 
public schools of our country at the present time. Our chief aim should be not 
to prepare the few to become Presidents and Senators, to aspire after official posi- 
tions and honors, but to send forth the many qualified to discharge the ordinary 
duties of life in a creditable manner — to become good and useful citizens. 

Assembled on this occasion to mark an important event in our educational 
history, the retrospect has much to excite gratitude for the past and inspire hope 
for the future. The great work of education has been well begun, and the results 
thus far have, I doubt not, more than realized the most sanguine expectations 
of the good Mayor, whose liberal views so far outran those of his contempora- 
ries. This edifice, which we are about to dedicate to the education of the young, 
pleasing in its architectural design, substantial and durable in its materials and 
workmanship, commodious, and in all its appointments well adapted to its pur- 
pose, crowning this eminence, and affording an outlook over a large portion of 
the city, and the river and country beyond, destined, as we trust, to present its 
open portals for generations to come, is evidence of our earnest determination to 
make our Public Schools worthy of the Capital of the Great Republic. 

It is not the largest, the most expensive, nor the most ornamental of our school 
buildings, but it has the most complete supply of all the conveniences which aid 
in the conduct of a well-ordered school, ami its completion and transfer to the 
custody of the Board of Education calls for our acknowledgments to the late 
Mayor of the city, by whose authority the enterprise was commenced; to the 
skillful architect who planned it, and with fidelity supervised the execution of his 
plans; to the builder, who faithfully and promptly complied with the stipula- 
tions of an unfavorable contract: to the members of the Building Committee, 
and especially the Trustees of this School District, who have watched its progress 
with unceasing vigilance; and, above all, to the tax-payers of Washington, who 
have cheerfully submitted to burdens for the support of the Public Schools heav- 
ier than are borne by the people of any other city in the United States. 

Duly appreciating the labors of our predecessors, we now turn our eyes to the 
future, and resolve to make that accelerated progress which our increased facil- 
ities and the prevailing spirit of the age demand. We have now no hostile pub- 
lic sentiment to controvert; no formidable array of unenlightened, illiberal, and 
parsimonious views and arguments to combat. The executive, the legislative 
department of our new government, and all classes of our fellow-citizens vie with 
each other in proffering moral support and material aid for the Public Schools. 

The field before us is broad and incites our highest ambition. The work, though 
well begun, is not finished. The already large and constantly increasing num- 
ber of teachers required to instruct these thousands of children imperatively 
demands of us the immediate establishment of a normal and training school, in 
which can he acquired that special education which best prepares teachers for 
their work. The time is at hand when a high school must be established, with- 
out which no system of public schools can be considered complete; and we must 
continue to erect, on the most attractive and convenient sites, such noble edifices 
as this which we to-day dedicate, until we have gathered in and thus provided 
for all the youth of our city. 



7 

Presentation of the Keys. 

remarks of hon. w. w. moore. 

My Friends: It has been my fortune, as a member of the Building Committee, 
on the part of the late Corporation of Washington, to be honored with an hum- 
ble part in the interesting ceremonial of this day. A ceremonial which, though 
not signalized by external rejoicing amid the sound of cannon or other unusual 
public demonstration, will, nevertheless, be regarded by the scholar and the 
philanthropist, and by many in this audience, as an occasion of more import- 
ance, both to the present and future generations, than the marshalling and array, 
in times of peace, of armed hosts, or the view of civic pageants, however gorgeous 
and animating, that pass as illusions, leaving upon the mind but a transitory 
impress of their incidents and beauties. 

We have quietly assembled for a pacific, a practical, and purely beneficent 
purpose — to dedicate a new temple to the cause of popular education, of the in- 
estimable value of which to a people it does not-become one unlearned as myself 
to attempt to discourse in the presence of an intelligent and critical auditory. 
That part of the exercises has been assigned to another, better qualified to dis- 
pense light upon a question of such paramount local and national importance. 

I may be permitted, however, to remark, that popular education is a subject 
which has, in late years, earnestly engaged the attention of liberal nations, educ- 
ing volume upon volume, and essay upon essay, all demonstrative of the trans- 
cendent worth to every community of the instruction of youth, not only in the 
elementary knowledge that leads to individual prosperity and happiness, but, 
also in those branches of practical science that lead to personal and national 
wealth, by the development of the physical resources which an all-wise Provi- 
dence shall have placed within the reach of a discerning and enterprising people. 
Judged by this standard, "the march of mind" may be justly regarded as the 
most interesting problem of this or any other age. It is the true criterion of 
national excellence, beneficial alike to all communities, in opening the paths of 
knowledge and conferring the eminence resulting from the possession of knowl- 
edge and power; acquisitions as inseparable in political economy as virtue and 
goodness are inseparable in the domestic affairs of life. 

Former generations of our citizens early recognized this truth. The mental 
culture of the multitude was essential to the stability of our popular system of 
Government, and hence the necessity of "spreading over the people the radiant 
streams of intellectual light." It was in harmony with the basis of our institu- 
tions, which recognize no higher distinctions among men than those founded in 
wisdom, virtue, and knowledge. Therefore the inauguration of public systems 
of education, which have grown with the growth of the nation, expanding in 
utility with every year of its progress, until, though yet in its infancy, it has 
already attained preeminence for its high state of civilization, its prowess, and its 
wealth. Be it our duty, and the duty of posterity, to continue this good and 
glorious work Let every year add to the number of school-houses and teachers 
and pupils. Let there be no retrograde in a cause so ennobling, but a pressure 
onward, and yet onward, until no child shall be without the blessing of at least 
an elementary education, that shall prepare it for the important duties of life, 
and mold the heart to a proper sense of moral and religious excellence. This 
is the progress that is most desirable for the premanency of our Republic; and 
legislators, teachers, and people should unite to make each revolving season 
produce a rich mental harvest, which, "shining as a sunbeam of light," shall 
expel, wherever its rays penetrate, the dark shadows of ignorance, and exalt the 
mind to that intellectual eminence which is most essential to power, liberty, 
and peace. 

With these general remarks, avoiding local statistics and details, which will 
be appropriately noticed by other speakers, I now deliver to the representative 
of the Governor of this District, our worthy Delegate to Congress, the keys of 



this school edifice, satisfied that it, as well as the cause of education, may be 
safely committed to his keeping. 



REMARKS OF GENERAL NORTON P. CHIPMAN, DELEGATE TO CONGRESS FROM THE 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: I sympathize with you in your disappointment 
to-day at not seeing our good Governor here, as I know you will sympathize 
with me in being called upon to fill his place in the programme. 

Speaking, then, for Governor Cooke, I accept these keys, and with them the 
trust they bring, and in all sincerity I promise for him that this trust shall never 
be betrayed. 

If there is any one of the many interests intrusted to him by our people 
which he places above all others, it is the welfare of our Public Schools. I 
know the subject has occupied much of his thoughts, and that his ideas are 
broad, statesmanlike, and iibeial. Upon the public school system rests the 
success of popular government, and hence the life of the nation. . With this is 
connected the happiness, largely, of mankind and the hope of republicanizing 
the world. 

Even to the enforcement by law of a common school education I know 
Governor Cooke to go in his ideas upon this subject, should that course become 
necessary. If the people will not send their children to school, then it becomes 
the duty of the State, looking to the safety, of the State, that they should be 
compelled to attend. 

In talking with him shortly after my election concerning measures to be 
urged upon Congress, we both agreed that the first and paramount object should 
be the endowment by the National Legislature of our Public Schools with a 
liberal land or school-scrip grant, and to the accomplishment of this purpose I 
now pledge my best efforts. 

My friends, I feel a glow of pride in my adopted home, as I look about me 
on this beautiful building, dedicated to-day to such noble uses. It is one of a 
series of structures which were erected here, and now adorn our city, while the 
rebellion raged around us and the enemy were within cannon sound. These 
edifices attest your faith in our country's cause, as they are valuable monu- 
ments to the public spirit and enlightenment of those who caused them to be 
erected. I confess that I am quite astounded at the rapid growth the cause of 
public schools has made here, as shown by our Superintendent, Mr. Wilson, 
and I think I am not improperly invidious when I suggest that to him we are 
largely indebted for the result. Probably greater progress has been made in 
the last decade than in all the years previous since the Government took up its 
residence here. This fact shows a healthy growth iu our population, which is a 
further source of congratulation. 

But, my friends, I must not stand between you and the orator of the day, 
who, I doubt not, comes with golden words and thoughtful speech. 

While the law makes the Governor custodian and trustee of the public prop- 
erty of the District, he must commit some of the responsibilities temporarily to 
others. In his name, then, I pass these keys over to Mr. Woodward, Chairman 
of the Sub-Board of Trustees, who, I doubt not, will prove faithful to the duty 
he now takes upon himself, and will render a good account of his stewardship. 



REMARKS OF MR. WILLIAM R. WOODWARD, CHAIRMAN OF THE SUB-BOARD OF 
TRUSTEES, SECOND SCHOOL DISTRICT. 

In the name and on behalf of the Sub-Board of the Second District of the Pub- 
lic Schools of this city I receive from you the keys of the Seaton Public School 
Building, as emblematic of the high and responsible trusts committed to our 
charge. We have at last a Public School building in the Second District. We 



9 

who have longed for this sight are now, in a measure, gratified. It is to me and, 
I doubt not, to all who have labored in this cause, a matter of surprise and some 
mortification, that the Second District, comprising two of the most populous and 
wealthy wards of the city, witli more children and schools than any other School 
District, has been until now entirely overlooked in this respect. To us, who 
have been compelled to be satisfied with basements, cellars, markets, engine- 
houses, and alleys, it is most pleasant to know, that we have a new ami pleasant 
school building. "What a step for the Third and Fourth "Wards of the city! 
May it be but the beginning of a fair and liberal legislation. Here we are in a 
large and comfortable, well-built, and conveniently located school building, and 
in a beautiful hall, all well adapted to the purposes for which they are to-day 
dedicated. Beautiful for situation, this house of learning overlooks our noble 
city and river. Modest at least in its looks to those below, it is proud and com- 
manding to those in front and on a level with it. Unpretending without, with- 
in it shows its true nobilit} 7 . So with the noble cause of education. 

Its name — Seaton — will honor the man who, as Mayor of this city, in all his 
acts as such, showed himself far in advance of his day in his appreciation of public 
school education. May we as surely achieve what he so confidently predicted. 

Happy am I, after six years' toil in the work I have loved, to stand here as 
an humble representative in this part culmination of our wishes. Others, who 
have loved none the more, but who have worked perhaps harder, share with 
me in the pleasure of this occasion. 

To him who, for the last two years, has devoted his time so precious, and his 
talents so rare, to this noble work — who in this work, and under the noble in- 
fluence of this cause, has been to me a valued co-worker, who loves the work, 
and has shown himself fully capable to exhibit to the world its workings and 
success, yes, to my friend and colleague George Frederick McLellan — great credit 
is due for the erection of this Public School building, and all the success that has 
attended it. 

We take this key, and assume the responsibilities, we hope, understandingly, 
and humblv- trust that, by God's help, we shall truly do our whole duty. 



Master Joseph Brows", a pupil in the Male Grammar School, Second School 
District, recited the following 

DEDICATORY ODE. 
Written for the occasion by Mr. T. Seaton Donoho. 
When Seaton died — Is Seaton dead? 
Such dignity of duty fled? 
So mild and beautiful alight 
Lost in the gulf of common night? — 
When Seaton died, 
A friend, a guide 
Departed, followed heaven-ward still 

By fondest thoughts, Ijy many a prayer, 
Gentle and true as ever will 
Ascend the angel-haunted air! 

Age, trembling on the brink of time, 
And youth, whose vring'd hours beat to rhyme, 
Alike looked up with reverent eyes: 
His soul, before it passed the skies, 
Lingered awhile: 
That sacred smile 
Remains — and Seaton, dead, lives on, 

Immortal through our mortal years; 
The orb of his effulgence gone, 

Its widening beam of glory cheers! 



10 

To him, whose lore calm Age admired, 
Our Chief,.our Firstly Heaven inspired 
To pioneer the darksome way, 
And lead our youth to Learning's day — 
To Seaton's name, 
His love and fame, 
We dedicate these temple walls, 

Invoke his spirit hither bend! 
What heart but with emotion calls 

The influence of our constant friend! 

Go on, the teacher and the taught! 
Perfect the good his kindness sought, 
And, moving by his golden rule, 
Let love's pure lustre fill the school ! 
No harsh command, 
j;ul haiid-in-hand 
Explore the labyrinth around, 

Till all the mystery be revealed, • 
The Master's Seat of Wisdom found 

His high diploma blessed and sealed! 



ADDRESS OF GENERAL FRANCIS A. WALKER, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NINTH 
UNITED STATES CENSUS. ^ u> _ 

My Friends: The completion of this commodious, elegant, and well-appointed 
school-house, signalizes another step in the progress which the people of Wash- 
ington are making, by advances necessarily plow and painful, and without that 
assistance from the General Government. which is morally due to them, yet with 
honest intention and earnest endeavor to place, Washington in the foremost rank 
of American cities in the all-important interest of public education. Every 
step in that progress affords occasion for congratulation, though none but the 
last for contentment. We must not rest satisfied until every school in this city, 
whether advanced or primary, whether for white or for black, is provided for in 
a school building as large and complete as this or the Franklin building, with 
ample accommodations for separate recitations, and a liberal provision of books, 
maps, and scientific apparatus. The whole generation of temporary school 
buildings which followed the inundation of population, lawful or contraband, 
during the war — the dismantled dwelling houses, the condemned barracks, the 
abandoned hospitals — must be removed, by little at a time or by much, as the 
abilities of the city will allow, to make room for permanent, commodious, and 
imposing structures suited to the high and holy uses of free public education. 
Let our congregations gather on the Sabbath in barracks or in barns, sooner 
than allow our youth to receive the instruction of the State in unworthy 
temples. 

Unfortunately, we have not yet advanced economical science so far but that 
thousands of honest families in every large city must rear their children in 
houses that are unfit to be human homes — in houses hardly good enough to 
shelter dumb beasts. More unfortunately still, all the moral and social influ- 
ences which society has yet learned to exert will not save thousands of other 
families from being sunk into poverty and squalor and shame by the bad pas- 
sions and vicious indulgences of those whom God has set to care for them and 
protect them. But we can provide that, for six hours a day, through twelve 
years of his early life, every child of this city, from however humble or however 
wretched a home he may come, shall sit here among the children of the wealthy 
and the happy, their companion and their equal, and all for the time shall be 
fragrance and music and light about him. And so I say, as I said before, let 
our congregations gather on the Sabbath v ithin bare walls, if need be, but let 



11 

us build school-houses that cultivate the tastes and eiucate the self-respect of 
our youth. 

Does any one telieve that a boy who shall receive instruction in one of these 
beautiful school-houses will be half as likely to sink helpless^ and hopelessly 
back into the misery and dirt of the paternal home? or, when grown to man's 
estate, to place his own family in a hovel, and let his children snuff up the 
odors of carrion and garbage from yard and alley? 

I would be sorry to discourage the proprietor, if such be present, of any one 
of those numerous rows of shanties that still disfigure some of our majestic ave- 
nues; but I must say, that buildings such as we dedicate to-day to the ehildren 
of this city are calculated to depreciate the value of that man's property in its 
present shape. Just as long as you teach children in sheds, their fathers and 
mothers will live in sties. When you put flowers in the school-houses, roses 
will bloom in the poor man's yard; when you hang pictures in the recitation 
rooms, prints and chromos will adorn the poor man's walls; when you rear the 
stately school-house, the mechanic will build himself a decent home. There is 
no connection whatever — none in the world — between fine churches, grand 
churches, and comfortable abodes for the poor. Make the tour of Upper Canada 
if you have any doubt as to that. Look at Ireland and France. But point me, 
if you can, to any community beneath the sun of heaven, that puts its children 
to school in rooms like these, where the sober and industrious workman does 
not shelter his family decently and comfortably. 

It may be thought that these remarks have taken rather a low range; that 
they have dwelt too much on the merely material aspects of education in Wash- 
ington; that it would be more appropriate to expatiate upon sublimer and more 
spiritual themes. But I confess to being of so base and practical a nature as to 
be satisfied, at least for one day, in felicitating myself and congratulating my 
fellow-citizens on the completion of a building so beautiful and so perfectly 
adapted to school purposes as this. 

All the experience of all the missionaries of all religions has shown that you 
must clothe and feed the body before you can minister with success to the soul; 
and for much the same reason the first concern of the city of Washington, in 
respect to public education, is to decently house these schools, that for ten years 
have been hiding in dens and caves of the earth. Build more and more such 
houses as this, and yon will find the self-respect of your scholars, the pride of 
your teachers, the zeal of your committees, and the interest of the community, 
generally advancing so steadily and rapidly, as to carry your whole system of 
public education, with hardly a distinct effort, up to the highest demands of the 
city and of the age. 

It would be doing injustice to the citizens of Washington in this connection 
not to recognize the fact, that the efforts which they are putting forth with so 
much zeal for public education, and so much readiness to make sacrifices, are put 
forth at a great disadvantage and under circumstances of exceptional difficulty. 

I hold in my hand a table, the results of which have astonished me, and may 
prove a surprise to many here present. 

By this table it appears that the school tax of Chicago, in the last fiscal year 
reported, was 17.1 cents for each $100 of taxable value; of Boston, 17.9 cents; 
of Baltimore, 23 cents; of Philadelphia, 26 cents; of Cincinnati, 35 cents; of 
St. Louis and San Francisco, 40 cents; of Washington, 50 cents. 

The first reason for the remarkable difference to our disadvantage which is 
exhibited in this table between Washington and other leading cities of the coun- 
try, is found in the large amount of real estate which is exempt from taxation as 
the property of the General Government. In most of the capital cities of the 
world, the proportion which the value of the land and buildings reserved for gov- 
ernment use bears to the total estate of the city is small — in some cases absolutely 
inconsiderable — and its exemption from taxation is not a hardship. In Wash- 
ington the value of the Government reservations, and the buildings thereon, can 
hardly be reckoned at less than one-third of the total value of real estate. Such 
an amount cannot be withdrawn from all liability for the expenses of local gov- 



12 

ernment, without serious hardship and serious injustice. No government can, of 
course, allow itself to be taxed by a municipality of its own creation. But just 
as the Federal Government, while refusing to allow itself to be cited into the 
courts of law as defendant in a civil cause, yet constitutes a court in which citi- 
zens may make good their claims for service or damage, with equal justice it 
would seem that the United States, though it cannot be taxed, should contribute 
voluntarily towards the expenses of this its capital city. 

\ For one, I have always believed that the strongest moral obligations rested 
upon the General Government to make stated annual grants for the benefit of the 
District of Columbia, conditioned, of course, upon the raising of equal or larger 
amounts for the purposes specified by the District itself, as an equitable consid- 
eration for its immunity from local taxation. 

If Washington was worth defending all through the war at the expense of 
millions, it is worth adorning and improving now at the expense of thousands. 
For ever}'- fort in the defenses of Washington that was dismantled, the Govern- 
ment should have built a school-house within the city, and called it after, the 
hero whose name the fort had borne, to be both a perpetual monument to his 
honor and a perpetual free gift to the city. If ever again Washington is des- 
tined to be the bulwark of the nation in war, a score of school- houses like this 
would be found a very much better defense than a score of forts. Had Wash- 
ington possessed institutions twenty years ago like this we dedicate to-day, there 
would never have been any doubt of its loyalty, or occasion to garrison it as if 
it had been a hostile capital. 

Another reason for the larger per capita payments for all purposes in Washing- 
ton, and particularly fir the heavier absolute burden which the school system 
here imposes upon a city comparatively poor, is found in the fact, that the nec- 
essary payments of every year since the war have been, not for ordinary current 
expenses, but also for original equipment in what every city ought to have, and 
must have, if it will hold its place among the cities of the land, and secure its own 
permanent improvement. Especially is this true of the school expenditures of 
Washington. The school taxes last year, and tins year, and next year, have not 
been, will not be, wholly or mainly, for instruction, for repairs; for proper annual 
expenses; but for the purchase of ground, the erection of buildings, the equipment 
of schools in furniture and apparatus, ami interest mi debts incurred by similar 
necessary expenditures in the few years past. Other cities have long had their 
school-houses built and furnished; their schools provided with everything that 
is demanded by modem education, and in many cases liberally endowed for the 
support of instruction. Such cities have only to keep up a system already created, 
and to provide for the natural increase of population. The close of the war left 
everything to be donein Washington. Under slavery anything had been good 
enough for the free school, viewed, as it was, at once with contempt and with 
dread. All the school-houses of AVashington in 1861, put together, were not 
worth a single Boston grammar school. It is not to be wondered at that the ne- 
cessity of creating here, all at once, what in other cities is the growth of- a gene- 
ration, should have severely taxed the energies and the public spiritof our citizens. 

Still another reason why the school necessities of Washington are found to be 
more burdensome than those of any other city in the United States (and it is also 
an additional reason why the General Government should contribute largely and 
freely towards these expenses) is, that far more than one-half of that element in 
the present population of the city, which makes the largest demand for such ex- 
penditures, without having the ability to contribute, in any appreciable measure, 
to the public funds, is properly to be regarded as the direct creation of the policy 
of the General Government. That is the plain truth of the case. Washington, 
as a city, is not legitimately responsible for these people. They came here by 
virtue of acts and laws of the General Government which looked to the interest 
of the whole country; and the whole country, therefore, should help to bear the 
burden. We rejoice in that policy; we glory in emancipation; but that only 
creates a stronger reason for relieving the tax-payers of the District from the 
inevitable hardship of such an unexampled influx of unprovided and unin- 



13 

structed freedrnen. These people came here for the same reason that the army 
of General Lee tried to come here, because the word " Washington" was synony- 
mous with "freedom;" because Washington was the capital of the nation that 
slavery sought to destroy; because Washington was the home of the great 
emancipator. 

In 1850, the number of colored persons in Washington was about 10,000. In 
1860, although the white population had nearly doubled, the number of the col- 
ored was still below 11,000, and no reason appears for believing that their num- 
bers would have been greatly increased from 1860 to 1870, but for the political 
causes to which allusion has been made. If this is so, twenty or twenty-five 
thousand colored people are here in obedience to no social or economical laws, 
but as the result of political forces and the direct acts of the General Govern- 
ment. The General Government, then, more than the city, is responsible for 
them, and should help to provide for, at least, their intellectual and moral needs. 

They will not leave the city. Where shall they go? Why will they go? 
There are, indeed, some who look to see this element melt away, under the pres- 
sure of want, from year to year, until it is reduced to something like the num- 
bers of the colored population before the war. But, aside from the ineffable 
brutality of such a process, this is truly a most melancholy way of solving the 
problem, to reduce the population of Washington by so many thousands, and 
send it backwards upon the list of American cities. There is a better way. 
Educate these people, and they will no longer be a burden on the community. 
Train this labor, and it will help to build up our city. Provide for these new 
citizens the opportunities of moral and intellectual culture, and there will be no 
desire remaining to be rid of them. 

Such are some of the difficulties, briefly and rudely traced, which the cause of 
public education encounters in Washington. I have ventured to present, inci- 
dentally, some considerations which appear to require, in simple justice, the 
intervention of the General Government, in the form of endowments or annual 
grants But whether the Government shall fail of its duty or perform it, the 
citizens of Washington must be true to themselves, and persevere in their efforts, 
aided or unaided. Every year should witness the completion of a new building 
for school uses; every year see the foundation of yet another laid, until "Wash- 
ington becomes, as it may and should be, the rival, in its school system, of the 
cities of the North and East, and a bright exemplar to all the cities of the 
southern half of our land. 



Upon the conclusion of General Walker's address, W. T. Sherman, General- 
in-Chief U. S. A., whose residence is opposite the Seaton Building, was introduced 
and received with heartly applause. 

REMARKS OF GENERAL SHERMAN". 

Ladies and Gentlemen: I wish I could say boys and girls, as I have been 
looking for them all day. When I entered this beautiful temple I hail not the 
remotest intention of opening my mouth, having come on invitation to witness 
and hear, but not to take part in these ceremonies. Well, I am glad I en me. I 
am the opposite neighbor of your school, and when last fall I was called upon to 
join in a general remonstrance against its erection, I refused. The school was 
not welcome on its present site. It was looked upon by property-hollers as a 
damage to property, and it is to me a loss of $10,000. Now, to be frank, I can 
see about me better sites for building, and I cannot see why the present one was 
selected; but the school-house has been built, and of course I abide by it. I 
have watched its progress; it is beautiful and commodious — ten large school- 
rooms, and this beautiful hall, which speaks for itself. Why it is a. thousand 
times better than the room in which I was educated. The little school in Ohio 
which I attended has given to the nation Senators, and to our army generals; 
but when compared to this edifice it sinks into insignificance; it is like compar- 



14 

ing a hovel to a palace. All this is right, and if it were ten times handsomer, I 
would say amen. 

I liked the remarks of General Walker, when he said that it was important to 
have what is beautiful before the eye at all times — beautiful objects are attract- 
ive, ugly ones repulsive. No girl is going to take a husband that is a dirty 
fellow, and she is right. Hence I like beautiful school-houses. 

I am sure Congress will in the end be fair, for they are not going to let the 
people of the District pay the national debt, and this is a part of it. They will 
do something for your educational interests in good time. 

Keep on building and improving your school-houses. Why, in twenty-five 
years, with the spirit of progress which animates us, this will be considered a 
second-rate school-house, and people will wonder why we didn't build bigger 
and better ones. This school is not too large, not too good ; the neighborhood 
is, perhaps, a little better than it ought to be; but, for one, I am willing to give 
my time and money, if our boys and girls will only grow up to be worthy of the 
country that claims them as her own. 



The selection, "O'er the foaming billows," was sung, and the ceremonies con- 
cluded with the benediction, pronounced by Rev. Dr. Stephen Prescott Hill. 







%5trii)tiojt atftl I 










ti.t A tltl t $1 £****?:• &t ri i"* 



SEPTEMBER 30, 1871 




WASHINGTON, D. C. : 

m'gILL & WITHEROW, PRINTERS AND STJEREOTYPKRS. 
I 87I. 




